Exit133 is about Tacoma

1 Million Cups Brings Together Tacoma Entrepreneurs

If you're an entrepreneur in Tacoma, see if you can clear your schedule at 9 a.m. next Wednesday. If next Wednesday doesn't work, how about the following Wednesday? You may want to find time to pencil in some time for a unique a one hour weekly meeting with other local entrepreneurs called 1 Million Cups.

The format is simple. One hour, once a week. Two presenters. Each gets six minutes to share their business with the group, followed by 20 minutes of questions and responses from the audience of their peers. Ideas are shared, challenges and opportunities pointed out, connections made. All done over coffee (hence 1 million cups), and all wrapping up in an hour. That's the idea.

The idea began at the Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City, as a way of creating connections in and supporting a strong, dynamic, and diverse startup community. Tacoma is the first Northwest location for the event, with the next closest location all the way down in Reno.

Mayor Strickland was there for the inaugural event, as was Lars Harvey of Tacoma's Internet Identity, who took the tough role as the first presenter to share his company's work and take questions from the audience. Next up was Jason Pessemier, to talk about his slightly newer business, Lessontrek.

Going forward the program hopes to attract a broad range of local entrepreneurs, from experienced business owners to those in early phases of getting their projects off the ground, representing a diverse range of businesses. The meetings will alternate between the VIBE (Veterans Incubator for Better Entrepreneurship) space in UWT's new Tioga building, and the Swiss, right across the street.

Interested entrepreneurs can register for the next 1MC Tacoma event and request to be put on the list of future presenters at 1millioncups.com/tacoma.

People gathering to discuss ideas big and small over coffee. As 1MC co-founder Nate Olson says in his TedX talk, "this is old school, you guys;" it has generated ideas and connections around the world for centuries. We're looking forward to seeing what ideas get generated over coffee in Tacoma.

Want to grab a cup of coffee?

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